Capital Investment Advisors LLC Has $525,000 Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,593 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in Kroger by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 19,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. City Center Advisors LLC boosted its position in Kroger by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. City Center Advisors LLC now owns 5,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co boosted its position in Kroger by 510.2% during the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 1,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Kroger by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 144,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,825,000 after acquiring an additional 9,044 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KR shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Down 2.0 %

KR opened at $58.74 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $44.48 and a 1-year high of $63.59. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $42.50 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Company Profile

The Kroger Co operates as a food and drug retailer in the United States. The company operates combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouses. Its combination food and drug stores offer natural food and organic sections, pharmacies, general merchandise, pet centers, fresh seafood, and organic produce; and multi-department stores provide apparel, home fashion and furnishings, outdoor living, electronics, automotive products, and toys.